The first naval battle between China and Europe in the Battle of Tuen Mun

Mondo Tourism Updated on 2024-01-28

Tuen Mun: A district in Hong Kong, China.

Cause: In 1518, the Portuguese Simon Andrade arrived in Tuen Mun with three ships, on the one hand, they pretended to be Muslims and claimed to pay tribute to the imperial court, bribed **, and met Emperor Zhengde;On the one hand, they built houses and forts in Tuen Mun without authorization, and treated the Chinese like black Africans, driving away merchant ships, plundering sailors, and plundering their goodsconniving at his subordinates to rob the people and ravage women;It also colluded with traitors in the hinterland to buy and buy people, arousing the resentment of the Chinese. During this period, Emperor Zhengde and the Portuguese became friends, and ** at all levels did not dare to cause trouble, and turned a blind eye. Finally, this absurd emperor of Chinese history accidentally fell into the water on the way back from his southern tour in 1521, and after returning to the capital, he fell seriously ill and died, and Jiajing succeeded to the throne, and the Portuguese who had fallen in the background were unanimously expelled by the court.

Strength of both sides: The Portuguese had a total of 700,800 troops in Tuen Mun, with five ships and firearms, all of which were the most advanced in the world at that time, and had been operating on Tuen Mun Island for several years, establishing a strong fort defense.

Daming soldiers: more than 4,000 soldiers, more than 50 ships, and constantly replenished in the later period, ** are cold weapons.

Defeat in the first battle: Jiajing ordered Wang Hong, the deputy envoy of the Cantonese Sea Road, to expel the Portuguese. The ship is small and outnumbered, this is the current situation of Wang Feng after receiving the will. At first, Wang Feng did not know about the huge gap between the two sides in terms of firearms, so at the beginning he only strengthened combat preparedness and recruited civilian ships and militia. After the preparation of the ship, he announced to the Portuguese and asked them to leave Tuen Mun. Simon Peretze, who considered himself a people of God, could not retreat from the infidels. So, with religious extremism, Simão Peretz chose to go to war with China. At that time, the militia of the Ming Dynasty in the Cold Weapon Age launched the first naval battle with Portugal, the world's strongest navy. In the initial engagement, Wang Feng suffered many defeats, the Portuguese built fortifications on Tuen Mun Island, using the ship's artillery to provide cross-fire support, the Portuguese relied on the strong ship and artillery, resisted the Ming army's wave of offensives, Wang Feng reluctantly changed the battle into a long-term siege battle.

War turnaround: While continuing to strengthen combat readiness, Wang Feng made contact with the Chinese who came with the Portuguese in order to understand the Portuguese ships and their performance. At that time, the best shipbuilding and metalworking industry in Southeast Asia were either Chinese or people of Chinese descent, and Portugal could not cross half the world to transfer all the ships from the country, ** Therefore, at that time, Portugal and the Chinese in Southeast Asia established a good cooperative relationship, and the Portuguese were in the fleet in Tuen Mun at that time, and also brought Chinese shipwrights and ** craftsmen. The Ming spies instigated against the Portuguese Chinese shipwright and **craftsman Yang.

3. Deming, and others brought back to Guangdong, and from then on, the five technologies of galleys, rear-loading gun style, long pipe diameter than front-loading gun style, forging method to make gun barrels, and snake shaft arquebus, officially flowed into China. With the profound heritage of traditional Chinese technologies, it is not difficult for China to learn from these technologies. Wang Honghong quickly made the same firearms within a few days, and then mobilized his army again to attack Tuen Mun.

The war was won: the war lasted for almost a year, the Portuguese were in danger of running out of food, and the Ming army continued to surround itPortugal can only find a way to find a breakthrough. In the decisive battle, Wang Feng changed his previous experience of fighting against the Japanese, and he first sent 30 fireboats to take advantage of the strong south wind and lower them downwind to limit the range of movement of Portuguese galleys. Then Wang Feng led 50 light warships to take the opportunity to charge, divided and surrounded the four Portuguese galleys, and threw arson with rocket fire canisters. Wang Feng was afraid that he would not be safe, and ordered the sailors to take advantage of the chaos to dive and scuttle a Portuguese warship. After a fierce battle, the squadron surrounded the Portuguese fort in Tuen Mun. Later, due to a change in wind direction, on September 7, Simon Peret led the remaining three boats to break out of the encirclement and escape from Tuen Mun.

Conclusion: The Battle of Tuen Mun was the first military conflict between China and the Western countries in modern times. Although the battle was won, Chinese scholars such as Wang Feng and others realized the power of centipede ships and Franc guns, and began to advocate the introduction of the West**. Wang Feng even issued a cry of "Shi Fu Lang machine to control it", which was three hundred years ahead of Wei Yuan's "master Yi long technique to control it".

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